317- Welcome to Autopia! Cool car, I always liked those.

That clearcoat failure looks similar to that on my `93 Audi (dark blue pearl). I`ve beem able to avoid repainting by just 1) doing one good, full detail, 2) keeping it out of the sun as much as possible, 3) being very careful to *NOT* do any more damage/precipitate faster failure, and 4) keeping it very well-detailed in the sense of *NOT* marring the paint any more and always re-LSPing (LSP = Last Step Product, i.e., wax/sealant/coating) it before it needs it (stay ahead of the curve, it really helps).

I would *NOT* aggressively clay it. That`s too, uhm...."uncontrolled" a process for my taste on compromised paint especially as it usually involves abrasion. Rather, I`d do a chemical decontamination (I used FinishKare`s FK 1119 on the Audi and it worked great, but ValuGard`s "A" is more pleasant to use, if weaker), concentrating on the "alkaline" step rather than the "iron-removal"/"acidic step".

While I`m certainly not opposed to the products that are made to remove ferrous contamination, I just don`t see it being an issue (or at least not the primary issue) on this older, black car. But the decontamination step I suggested above is something I`d *ABSOLUTELY* do as the first step. Period.

Then I`d do a very careful compounding of the most compromised areas, just to smooth them a bit. Yeah...double-edged sword there as it`ll abrade/further thin the already compromised paint. Don`t overdue it. Maybe even...don`t do it at all! But I did it and I`m glad I did.

Then a Final Polish step to bring up the gloss. Either use a product that doesn`t "dry white" in the cracks/etc. or do some sort of process to remove that residue chemically (I wouldn`t use FK1119 a second time through, it`s pretty nasty stuff). If anybody here knows of a product that does good filling/concealing without drying white, that`d be the stuff to use (I use 1Z WaxPolishSoft but AFAIK that`s no longer available).

Then I`d use a LSP that, again...doesn`t dry white or else use the wipe-on-wipe-off technique to apply/remove rather than letting it dry before you buff it off.

And of course if you`re gonna do any touchup work, try to avoid the "wetsanding to level the touchups" as more abrasion isn`t a good idea (I`d use DrColorChips but used like conventional touchup paint rather than according to the directions, or use Langka Blob Eliminator, or just don`t bother leveling them). OR just don`t bother with the touchups (I didn`t on the Audi).

That`s what I did to my `93 Audi back in `08 when I got it from the original owner, and it`s still looking great (lots of compliments from people who apparently ignore the flaws) in 2016 despite *not* having the obviously-required repaint that I har originally figured it`d need long before now.

That`s such a nice car, and Lexus is pretty good about parts (I can`t get certai parts for the `93 Audi, not anywhere on earth.. ), so I myself would be saving up for a really nice repaint. But IMO you can delay that for a long, long time if you go about it right.